I thought we were going to get a nice and quiet respite from all the revelations and tension that have been hitting us nonstop since the beginning of the season. Boy was I wrong.
What They Say:
Episode 31: “Warrior”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
If there is one potential danger from the massive revelations that hit us with this episode, it’s that the author might be potentially backing himself into some kind of corner by engaging in the kinds of character revelations that will become harder and harder to top as things go along. Because with this episode we learn something that basically rips apart many of the certainties we had held before.
And it was looking like we would be getting some kind of respite instead. That is, the episode started off as a quiet and mellow look at the aftermath of Ymir’s spirited defense of the former cadets at Utgard. Christa (or should I start calling her Historia Reiss? Eh, maybe, maybe not) is still sad over the poor shape that Ymir is in (though it’s noted that were she a normal human, she’d be dead already). We also saw everyone else trying to recover, especially Reiner who seemed like he was having a mental breakdown after almost dying yet another time. And then comes the news that there is no hole in the Wall, as Hannes comes with a Garrison Regiment patrol that was sent to investigate and they can find no gap. Titans are inside the Wall and there is no gap.
But that’s all unimportant as we get a very strangely framed, but deliberately so, scene. Reiner, who one might be convinced is suffering from PTSD at this moment, asks Eren if he would be willing to go with him and Bertholdt back to their hometown. It’s all just so casual, as Hange is speaking to the others and gathering everyone to go back to Trost. And just as casually, Reiner tells Eren that he is the Armored Titan while Bertholdt is the Colossal Titan and that 5 years ago they started the events that were intended to wipe out Humanity. You might expect Eren to completely freak out at this moment…but he doesn’t. Is there an explanation for that calm?
Yes, there is and it is immediately offered. A flashback intervenes which shows that Hange had already figured out that there is something suspicious about Reiner and Bertholdt, as they come from the same original area as Annie Leonhart. It would appear that records from the area were disrupted by the attack so that family registers are not fully complete. Regardless, that report on Annie handed to Hange so importantly by Sasha a couple episodes back now emerges as being a key piece of information, as everyone is now aware that Reiner and Bertholdt are suspect individuals.
Thus, Eren’s calm reaction. He already knows that something is off about Reiner and his primary objective is to get Reiner and Bertholdt quietly and without raising too much suspicion under ground—where they presumably would have less energy, could not transform, and could be confined. So, Eren laughs off the revelation (“You’re just tired and it’s making you crazy” something along those lines) and even Bertholdt seems to want to stop Reiner from what he’s planning. But at this point, Reiner kind of snaps and decides that if Eren won’t come with them willingly, he will have to force the issue.
It’s lightning time.
I can’t imagine what it was like learning all of what we have been learning this season piece by piece in serialized form for the original manga audience. At some point, you kind of want to get off the revelation train and have some certainties again. My hat is off to Isayama, however, for engaging in some good misdirection. For it was Reiner who saw Ymir reading the strange writing on the canned food, the marker that something was off about Ymir, but not him. And with having the Titans attack him along with everyone else, it further threw suspicion away from him (and Bertholdt as well). But we can now see that deliberate drawing off of suspicion for what it was, although there might be room for alternate interpretations.
Could…there be factions of Titans? If Titans really were just one large and coordinated group, would not Reiner and Bertholdt have known that Ymir was a Titan? And what was with the flashback where it is Ymir who was the Titan that attacked Reiner and Bertholdt long ago in the past? The mysteries are only growing the more we learn. If Reiner is just a warrior…then who is giving the orders? Why do the Titans want to wipeout Humanity? And of course…what does Eren have to do with any of this?
Looks like a massive fight next week.
In Summary:
In the aftermath of the fight at Utgard, instead of quieting down things are ramped up considerably. It is revealed that Reiner and Bertholdt are not quite what they seem. At least Eren and the Scouts were not unprepared for this, as they had already learned to be suspicious of these two, unlike the audience who had just seen them survive the Titan attack at Utgard and had thus been lulled into a false sense of ease. Though we are now given answers for a couple of mysteries that had been lingering since the very start of the story. We will see if more answers will be forthcoming next week.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll (also streaming on Funimation)
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 12GB RAM, Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan
